FLOWERS 137 



farm of a lady at Lansing, Michigan, who has been a most 

 successful grower. These did not thrive, and we next 

 imported 3000 cuttings from the Tarrytown neighborhood, 

 where violet culture has been most successful. 



"The first rule is to keep the temperature of the green- 

 house between forty-five and fifty degrees. Violets are 

 spring flowers, and wither and droop if the temperature is 

 not at the right degree. Most people think the double 

 violets have no fragrance because most of those that we get 

 lose their fragrance in transit. 



"We supply 2000 flowers a week, and as they reach our 

 patrons within two or three hours at the most from the 

 time of cutting, they retain their fragrance. They are also 

 larger and of a deeper color than the New York flowers. 

 Next year we hope to go in on a much larger scale. 



"While the work is not hard, it requires infinite care and 

 vigilance when the little plants are growing. As a career 

 for a woman, violet growing offers greater inducements 

 than anything I can think of." 



Then, surely, others can succeed in other flowers at other 

 places. While there is little choice between the standard 

 styles of greenhouses for violets, there should be abundant 

 provision for supplying fresh air, either from the sides or 

 top, whichever is chosen. The system of ventilation should 

 admit of operation either from the inside or the outside of 

 the house, as fumigation with hydrocyanic acid gas is some- 

 times necessary, in the fumes of which it is impossible to 

 enter, unless with a gas mask. 



The arrangement of the house should secure the greatest 

 possible supply of sunshine in December and January, 

 and the least possible during the growing season, when, 

 as Miss Howard points out, it is necessary to secure as low 



